ABC issues news releases on the latest workforce, policy and industry issues, as well as construction-related economic data and trends. Commercial and industrial construction economic analyses include federal data on construction spending, employment, GDP and the Producer Price Index, as well as state-by-state construction unemployment estimates.

In addition, ABC produces the Construction Backlog Indicator, the only economic indicator that reflects the amount of work that will be performed by commercial and industrial construction contractors in the months ahead, and the Construction Confidence Index, a diffusion index that signals construction contractors’ expectations for sales, profit margins and staffing levels. ABC construction economic releases are published according to this schedule.

ABC Applauds Introduction of the Save Local Business Act to Rein In ‘Joint Employer’ Standard

WASHINGTON, July 28--Kristen Swearingen, vice president of Legislative & Political Affairs at Associated Builders and Contractors and chair of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, today issued the following statement on the introduction of the Save Local Business Act, which would roll back the Obama administration’s expanded definition of “joint employer” under the National Labor Relations Act and Fair Labor Standards Act:

“Under President Obama, the National Labor Relations Board expanded the joint employer standard used to determine when one business should be considered responsible for the labor practices of another.

“The changes disrupted decades of established law and undermined the business relationships between a brand company and local franchise business owners; contractors and subcontractors; and businesses and their suppliers and vendors—all of which have created millions of jobs and allowed hundreds of thousands of individuals to achieve the American Dream of owning their own business.

“This legislation would codify the previous standard in both the National Labor Relations Act and Fair Labor Standards Act, and would restore clarity and protect businesses from unnecessary involvement in labor negotiations and disputes involving workplaces in which they do not have direct control. The restoration of this standard will protect hundreds of thousands of small and local businesses and allow them to grow American jobs again.”